Israel-Hamas War Live: Israel has been relentlessly bombarding Gaza since the October 7 attacks by Hamas
Israel-Hamas War Live Updates:
Following days of expanding ground operations, the Israeli army late on Thursday said that it had encircled Gaza City as the Israel-Hamas war raged for the twenty-eighth day on Friday. Israel has been relentlessly bombarding Gaza since the October 7 attacks by the Hamas group, in which, 1,400 people were killed and more than 230 taken hostage.
“We’re at the height of the battle. We’ve had impressive successes and have passed the outskirts of Gaza City. We are advancing,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.
According to the Gaza health ministry, over 9,000 people have been killed, including 3,760 children, in Israeli airstrikes.
Here are the live updates on the Israel-Hamas war:
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Israel President Isaac Herzog on Thursday met ambassadors of Thailand, Philippines, Tanzania, and Nepal, whose citizens were killed and taken hostage by Hamas.
“I asked them to convey to their families that the State of Israel will do everything to return them as it does for all taken captive,” he said on X, formerly Twitter.
Among those murdered and taken hostage in Hamas’s barbaric attack on October 7, were many foreign workers who came to Israel as agricultural workers, as students taking knowledge home to promote their countries’ economies, and people providing care for the elderly and those with… pic.twitter.com/jiu0EGIxbS
– Isaac Herzog Isaac Herzog (@Isaac_Herzog) November 2, 2023
The United Arab Emirates today warned that there was a “real” risk of a regional spillover from the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
“As we continue working to stop this war we cannot ignore the wider context and the necessity to turn down the regional temperature that is approaching a boiling point,” UAE Minister of state for foreign affairs Noura al-Kaabi told a policy conference in Abu Dhabi.
“The risk of regional spillover and further escalation is real, as well as the risk that extremist groups will take advantage of the situation to advance ideologies that will keep us locked in cycles of violence,” the minister added.
Thailand Foreign Minister Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara today said that he is in touch with Iran and other governments that can make contact with Hamas for the safe release of nearly two dozen Thai nationals being held hostage.
Bahiddha-Nukara said Iran, which is close to Hamas, has promised to help with negotiations.
At least 23 Thai nationals are among more than 240 people taken hostage when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7.
A 20-year-old Indian-origin Israeli soldier was among the Israeli troops killed while fighting in Gaza, community members and the Mayor of the town have said.
Staff-Sgt. Halel Solomon was from the southern Israeli town of Dimona.
According to the Ministry Of Health in Gaza, 9,061 Palestinians, including 3,760 children and 2,326 women, have been killed since October 7.
As many as 102 trucks carrying humanitarian supplies entered Gaza through the Rafah crossing on Thursday, the UN said.
“This is the largest convoy since delivery of aid resumed on 21 October, bringing the total number of trucks that entered to 374,” the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.
The entry of fuel, however, remains banned by the Israeli authorities.
United States President Joe Biden on Thursday said that 74 of American citizens had left the war-torn Gaza Strip since a crossing opened to Egypt.
“Good news, we got out today 74 American folks, dual citizens,” US President Joe Biden told reporters in the Oval Office.
The White House said another five Americans left on Wednesday.
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi will tell US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Amman on Saturday that Israel must “immediately” end its war on Gaza. In a foreign ministry statement, he warned that Israel’s unreadiness to end the war was pushing the region rapidly towards a regional war that threatened world peace.
“Safadi will stress (to Blinken) the need to move immediately to stop the Israeli war on Gaza … and that Israel abide by international law and stop its breaches,” the statement read.
Vice President Kamala Harris said on Thursday that the United States would continue to stand with Israel’s right to defend itself in the wake of the October 7 attacks by Hamas.
“We are not going to create any conditions on the support that we are giving Israel to defend itself,” she told a news conference in Britain following the conclusion of an AI Safety Summit.
“We are going to continue to stand with Israel’s right to defend itself and, let’s be clear and never forget what happened on Oct. 7, where hundreds, thousands, 1400, innocent people were killed, slaughtered. Young people who were simply attending a concert,” Ms Harris added.
The two American officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to Reuters, said the US was flying intelligence gathering drones over Gaza to assist with hostage location efforts. One of the officials said they had been carrying out the drone flights for over a week.
“We will be talking about concrete steps that can and should be taken to minimize harm to men, women and children in Gaza,” he told reporters ahead of his visit.
“This is something that the United States is committed to,” he said, a day before his latest meeting with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu.
A group of independent United Nations experts said on Thursday said that the Palestinians are at “grave risk of genocide”.
“We remain convinced that the Palestinian people are at grave risk of genocide,” the group of experts, made up of seven UN special rapporteurs, said in a statement.
“We demand a humanitarian ceasefire to ensure that aid reaches those who need it the most,” they added.
Israel will return Gazans working inside the country to the besieged Palestinian territory, the government said.
“Israel is severing all contact with Gaza. There will be no more Palestinian workers from Gaza,” the Israeli security cabinet announced in a statement late Thursday.
“Those workers from Gaza who were in Israel on the day of the outbreak of the war will be returned to Gaza,” it added, without specifying how many people would be sent back.
Gaza government said on Thursday that 195 people had been killed in two days of Israeli strikes on Jabalia refugee camp. It said officials “have recorded 195 martyrs, 120 missing under the rubble, and 777 wounded” at the camp on Tuesday and Wednesday.
More foreign passport holders and dual nationals crossed into Egypt on Thursday after the Rafah crossing was opened to people seeking to flee Gaza.
The health ministry in Cairo said 21 wounded Palestinians and 344 foreign nationals, including 72 children entered Egypt.
Egypt said it would help evacuate “about 7,000” foreigners and dual nationals with passports issued by more than 60 countries.
Israeli army late on Thursday said that it had encircled Gaza City as the Israel-Hamas war raged for the twenty-eighth day on Friday.
“We’re at the height of the battle. We’ve had impressive successes and have passed the outskirts of Gaza City. We are advancing,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement..
Gaza City-what you can’t see from above. pic.twitter.com/RKoi1R2CAL
– Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) November 3, 2023
